What Are the Benefits of Assessment Tests in the Workplace?

by Stan Mack

Assessment tests help demonstrate your abilities and knowledge.

Taking tests at work might feel like a pointless distraction in your already busy schedule. But assessment tests can play an important role in helping an organization measure its employees' abilities, aptitudes and personalities. Taking assessment tests can help you prove to your employer that you have what it takes to succeed in the workplace. Many types of assessment tests exist, each with its own benefits.

General Mental Ability Tests

General mental ability tests provide insight into how well an employee can understand and process information of all types. For example, a general mental ability test might ask basic arithmetic and grammar questions. General mental ability questions also might test spatial reasoning -- important in design and engineering fields, for example -- as well as general knowledge.

Aptitude Tests

Aptitude tests measure an employee's potential for growth. For example, an organization might want to find out how quickly an employee can pick up a new skill, such as computer coding. Such a test might focus on measuring an employee's ability to organize information and understand logical processes. Employees benefit because they get to demonstrate their capacity to learn a new skill, even if they have little experience in the field.

Achievement Tests

Achievement tests help an organization measure an employee's skill, experience or knowledge in a specific area. Professional certification tests commonly measure such parameters. For example, to demonstrate competency in a specific technology, employees might take a vendor-sponsored achievement test to prove to an employer they have what it takes to handle the job. In the workplace, organizations can use achievement tests to ensure employees meet minimum requirements for a promotion, for example, or to handle project management.

Personality Tests

Personality tests come in many different varieties, but they generally help an organization measure an employee's temperament, habits and preferences. For example, suppose an organization wants to ensure a job candidate's personality will fit well with others. A personality test could help reveal the candidate's preferences about workplace collaboration and the candidate's ability to find compromises and resolve conflicts.

Considerations

Many other types of assessment tests exist. Some are standardized, allowing all kinds of organizations to assess their employees. Other tests are customized to fit the needs of a specific workplace. For example, an organization might want to assess how familiar employees are with company-specific safety protocols or best practices in typical workplace scenarios.

References

About the Author

Stan Mack is a business writer specializing in finance, business ethics and human resources. His work has appeared in the online editions of the "Houston Chronicle" and "USA Today," among other outlets. Mack studied philosophy and economics at the University of Memphis.